Engagement
by Jadi Teal
Summary: After being in a relationship with the blonde mage for years, Natsu decides to take things to a whole new level. Natsu plans to propose to Lucy but things does not go as he planned it to be. One Shot.
**A/N: I saw this one-shot on my draft list in Wattpad because that was where I write my original stories, it was long-forgotten since I finished this somewhere in November 2015 without getting it published.**

 **According to my former self (lol) it took me 2 weeks to finish this and I thought it was long because it exceeded 2000 words. What the heck, that's not even long enough. And I could remember writing this while in class because I was bored (another reason why I failed my math exam that grading) so the ending's rushed. I like it too much to rewrite it so I figured I'll post it here.**

 **Hope you'll enjoy!**

* * *

Natsu knelt down on the wooden floor of the guild, his heart pounding loudly on his chest. The whole guild was quiet all of the sudden, gone were the ruckus, the fights, and the laughter. He could feel the stares directed on him and the woman in front of him who he could guess was also staring at his figure.

He shoved his hand on his pocket, feeling the tiny, solid box inside. He grabbed it, hands a bit trembling and sweaty. Pulling it out of the pocket, he took a deep breath.

"Lucy," He began, his voice was trembling and he wished Lucy hadn't taken notice of it. He opened the box, revealing a gorgeous diamond ring with a gold band. "Will you marry me?"

He held his breath, everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the blonde's reply. Natsu was staring at the floor, finding it surprisingly interesting. He didn't want to look at Lucy's reaction, he had been nervous for days as he was planning when he'll propose to her.

"Natsu..." Lucy's voice was shaking. The salmon-haired man didn't want to look up but he found himself staring at those chocolate brown eyes that he dearly loved. Lucy was crying, her beautiful face was moist with tears and her lips were trembling. "Natsu," She repeated as if hesitating to say the next words, "I'm sorry, Natsu, but I can't." She covered her mouth to supress a sob that was about to escape her lips.

There were gasps from the crowd and others were whispering, they did not believe that Lucy can turn down Natsu's proposal just like that after 8 years of being a couple.

Natsu stared back to the floor, his hand which was holding the box was already down and closed as he gripped the box so tightly that it could break. His bangs were covering his eyes but the tears that rolled down his face was visible as it dropped to the ground.

"Natsu-" Lucy's sentence was cut off when Natsu abruptly stood up. The whispers stopped and the guild was shocked by the sudden movement.

He looked and gave her a bitter smile. Lucy looked away, guilt evident in her features but she did not say anything. Natsu turned his head and walked swiftly towards the wooden double doors of the guild and slammed it open.

From the opened doors, the whole guild could clearly see Natsu stop a few feet away from the building and threw the box on the hard ground where it broke into two, the ring flying off a little bit far from the box. They could only watch until Natsu's figure was already far and disappeared along the busy crowd of Magnolia.

Juvia rushed off outside to find the ring, along with Erza while Gray tried to catch up with the broken-hearted dragon slayer along with Happy who was tailing behind him.

"Lu-chan..." Lucy looked at Levy whose worry was evident in her eyes. The blonde gave a sad smile to the bluenette, tears forming once again on her soft eyes. Seeing the salty liquid, Levy hugged the celestial mage as she sobbed.

* * *

Natsu was furious. He was sad, confused, frustrated and he was certainly broken. Why would Lucy turn him down? How could she just throw away 8 years of their relationship? It was so frustrating.

He headed straight to his house. Slamming the door close once he got in. He sank on their sofa, face buried on both palms of his hand while his elbows propped on his knee. His shoulders were shaking and his quiet sobs were the ones that filled the silent room.

Then a knock echoed throughout the house and Natsu held his breath. Did Lucy follow him?

"Natsu?" A male voice called out from the other side of the door and Natsu frowned, so Lucy didn't even try to stop him, was their relationship really nothing to her? "Natsu," The deep voice called out again and the dragon slayer sighed.

"Gray, shut up." Natsu groaned. He didn't even want to deal with the ice mage, he didn't want to deal with anyone right now. He just needed to be alone.

"Fine," the raven-haired man said in defeat. "Just remember that the whole guild's there for you, flame brain."

Natsu gave a heartless smirk even if Gray can't see it. "When did you care, ice princess?"

"Shut up," Gray grunted playfully, "this is just a once in a lifetime opportunity, don't waste my kindness."

"Yeah right, go away."

"Its up to you."

Natsu heard footsteps that slowly faded away. He figured that Gray already left his front door and he sighed, the event earlier replaying in his brain once again.

"God damn it Luce..." He muttered.

* * *

At the guild hall, everyone went back to what they were doing before the proposal happened although it was a lot more quiet than before.

Lucy was sitting at a stool near the bar's counter, her hands clenched as tears dropped on her forearm. Levy was by her side, she could only watch the celestial mage while she was crying, she didn't know how to comfort her, what words she would need to use. And there was that one question that bugged her just like how it bugged everyone else in Fairy Tail.

"Lu-chan," Levy found herself speaking before she could even stop herself, "why did you turn the proposal down?"

Lucy looked at Levy, a sad smile graced her lips. "Its something personal, Levy. I'm sorry that I can't tell you..."

The bluenette just smiled. "Its okay, Lu-chan. I perfectly understand, I won't ask anymore." It was pretty obvious that Levy was disappointed and mostly upset that her best friend did not trust her enough for such reasons but the bluenette shook those thoughts off, scolding herself for thinking such negative things to the blonde.

"Levy," Lucy called out and Levy looked up at her, surprised.

"What is it, Lu-chan?"

"Can you accompany me to the master?"

* * *

Natsu entered the guild the other day, a grin plastered on his face as he slammed the door open which took the guild by surprise. Seeing their reaction, Natsu laughed as he walked inside. Happy was tailing behind him, a worried look on his face as he stared at the dragon slayer.

Erza who, like the rest of the guild, was confused with Natsu's mood, called out to the blue exceed quietly. Happy willingly flew to Erza and dropped to the table she was sitting on.

"Is Natsu okay?" The redhead asked as she glanced back to Natsu who was already on a fight with Gray.

"I don't know." Happy sighed, he ,too, was confused with Natsu's actions. "He's been like that since that day."

"Hey, where's Lucy?" Natsu's question silenced everyone im the guild, no one dared to make a sound as they averted their eyes, not knowing how to relay the news to the dragon slayer.

"Where's Lucy?" He repeated, demanding for some answer. Why was everyone acting all weird? He was desperate to know.

"Gray," He called out, "where's Luce?" He can't understand hinself. Why was he looking for the blonde girl? Why is he so worried? Didn't he already made a decision to move on and just return to being friends no matter how awkward that may be? Then why was he acting like this?

The raven-haired man stepped out from the crowd, hesitation, worry, and sadness mixed on his facial features. He stopped a few feet away from Natsu, taking a deep breath, he answered, "Natsu, Lucy already left the guild."

Those words hit Natsu like a ton of metallic bricks. No, he can't accept it. Mixed emotions started to well up inside of him, frustration, worry, hurt, guilt, and betrayal. Heck, he didn't even know why he felt guilty! "No! Lucy won't leave the guild, we're her family! She can't just leave us just like that!"

"Calm the f*ck down, Natsu! She already left, we can't stop her!" Gray yelled, trying to stop the rampaging dragon slayer from causing anymore damage on the guild's hall.

Natsu stopped, breathing heavily as he turned towards Gray. His moist onyx eyes staring at the ice mage's. "Tell me how can I calm down when I know I won't see her ever again?"

Gray just stared, not knowing what to say. He knee that if was in Natsu's position, he also wouldn't know what to do. He was already feeling sympathetic to the salmon-haired man.

"Natsu, what is this ruckus about?" The entire guild turned their heads towards the short, old man who just entered the guild hall. They gave way to him until he reached the two men. "Come to my office, I'll need to talk to you."

Natsu sighed as he followed the guild's master to his office. Was he about to get scolded?

When he entered, Makarov made him sit on the leather couch that was placed at the side of the room. The old man was searching for something behind his wooden office table that was stacked with a pile of papers.

After a few minutes, he walked towards Natsu and held out a small piece of paper with something scribbled on it. Natsu took the paper slowly and read the content.

"Go, I don't need you destroying all the guild's property, I don't have enough money to do an entire renovation."

Natsu stood up and gave the man a bone-crushing hug as he muttered a thanks before dashing out of the room.

* * *

Natsu stood outside an apartment complex, the piece of paper on his hand. He looked at the address written on it before looking back at the apartment. He gulped as he crushed the paper under his palm and stuffed it into his pocket.

He walked slowly towards the front door, his knuckles coming in contact with the wooden door, knocking gently.

With his sensitive sense of hearing he heard foot steps getting louder and nearer. "Who's there?" The door opened, revealing Lucy who was still on her pajamas.

Lucy's eyes widened for a bit before turning cold and expressionless. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk." Natsu said without hesitation. He'd been rehearsing while he was in his way to this apartment. Heck, the train ride didn't even made it a little easier for him.

"Get out of my front door." Lucy said but Natsu didn't listen, there's no way he'll be experiencing another train ride without speaking to her.

"I'm not leaving until you give me an explanation." Lucy gave Natsu a glare but he kept a determined face on, not moving from where he was standing.

Lucy was the first to speak, "Fine, you want to talk? Then let's talk." She opened the door wider to let Natsu in, and he did.

He looked around to see boxes placed around the house, some opened and some were not. Lucy gestured for Natsu to take a seat on the couch placed at the center of the room, in front of it was a coffee table and across was another couch.

They both sat across each other, the mood intense and heavy. It stayed like that for a couple of minutes, an uncomfortable silence settling between them.

"I don't love you."

 _Stab._

Those four words hurt so much than he expected to. His chest tighten and he found it hard to breath. He looked down, can he change Lucy's mind when it looks like she was already sure, too sure, that she has no feelings for him?

"I hate your guts, I dislike your childishness. I hate it when you always save me, it makes me feel weak and useless. I hate you and everything about you."

Natsu wanted her to stop but he didn't say anything, he can't say anything. His eyes were getting blurry, tears forming at the bottom. Why is she saying this now? After 8 years, she's saying all these things now. And it was torture for him.

Even when Lucy tried to hide the sob that escaped her lips, Natsu noticed it and he looked up to see her crying silently, desperately trying to wipe the tears away. When she saw him looked up, she stood up and ran to a room, slamming it shut before letting the tears she was trying to hold back fall.

Natsu followed her but stopped right after the door was shut. He tried to turn the knob but it was locked. He could hear her crying at the other side.

"Lucy, open up!" He started banging the door with his clenchd hands but Lucy didn't answer.

"Lucy!"

"Go away, Natsu! Leave!"

"I won't leave until you open this door! Why are you even crying?" He laughed bitterly, "I'm the one who should be doing that, you know. I love you too much that every word you just said hurts like hell. But here I am, still reaching out to you even when I know that its hopeless..." He leaned his head on the door, his forehead pressing against the wood. "I just love you that much Lucy, I love you so much that it hurts."

There was silence, only the blonde's sobs were heard but he waited, he waited for her to talk.

"I'm sorry," She choked out the sob, "I'm just too afraid... I'm too scared for marriage. You know what happened to my parents, there was a time where I believed my dad never loved my mom that much and that's why he was too busy with our business that he didn't have time to be with me. I became worried that history will repeat itself. I know my dad loved my mom 'til the end but it still scares me. I'm just a coward..."

"But why did you have to leave the guild? Everyone misses you."

"Its because I don't want to see you, I don't want to see you hurts because of me."

Natsu had this urge to hug her, he could sense from her voice that she was hurting too much and he wanted to be the one to comfort her so he pushed the door with all his strength, breaking the lock and slamming the door open. He found her sitting on the corner of the room, knees pulled to her chest while she hugged it, her face nuzzled and hidden by her arms.

He ran to her, hugging the blonde. "Lucy, I love you and I won't stop loving you. You don't have to be scared because I'll always be with you. I won't leave. So please, come back to me, come back to the guild, everyone's waiting for you... I'm still waiting for you."

Lucy sniffed, and nodded on his chest. Natsu smiled and hugged her tighter before meeting her eyes, face to face.

"I'll ask you again, will you marry me?"

Lucy smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks, "Yes." and she nodded.

 **-END-**


End file.
